Bartleby, the Scrivener - Dennis R. Perry (essay date 1987)
Dennis R. Perry (essay date 1987)
SOURCE: "'Ah, Humanity': Compulsion Neuroses in Melville's 'Bartleby'," in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 24, No. 4, Fall, 1987, pp. 407-15.
[In the following essay, Perry contends that the character of Bartleby is not schizophrenic, but neurotic.]
Psychoanalytic critics of Melville's "Bartleby" have been remarkably consistent in their diagnoses of the enigmatic scrivener as schizophrenic. Along with the tale's nearsighted narrator, they have isolated Bartleby as a fascinating case study while overlooking the importance of his relationship to the other characters in the tale. The problem with such readings is that, in isolating Bartleby as a psychological aberration, these critics have missed Melville's broader concerns. As we begin on the assumption that Melville constructs a coherent tale in which each character must be understood in the context of the others, it becomes possible to see their common...
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